Pedro del Castillo ( Villalba de Rioja , 1521 - Panama City , 28 March 1569) was a Spanish conquistador .

Biography [ edit ]

After acting as corregidor in some recently founded American towns, he was in Chile at the orders of Francisco de Villagra , with whom he took part in the Arauco War . ^[1]

In November 1560 he was appointed by the Governor of Chile , Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza , as capitan general y teniente gobernador para poblar, fundar, repartir tierras y encomendar indios en la provincia de Cuyo (commander-in-chief and plenipotentiary for the province of Cuyo ), in what is now western Argentina . Castillo organized an expedition that crossed the Andes , passing through the Aconcagua and Uspallata valleys, reaching the Huentata valley on 22 February.

On 2 March 1561, Pedro del Castillo founded the city of Mendoza . Some time later, he was sent to Lima , Peru , and afterwards he established himself in Panama . He died in Panama City in 1569.

References [ edit ]